Wataru Takagi's Realization
by JuuRokuChan016
Summary: The classic, what-happened-after-the-bomb-incident-in-episode-3 04.
1. Chapter 1

Wataru Takagi was slowly piecing the evidence together... But one question remained unanswered: How?

The people around Tohto Tower dispersed within the hour, and the media started to pack up the cameras, headed to the next story. A couple passed where Takagi was standing, saying,

"That boy sure was something! To be able to defuse a bomb when you're only seven? Amazing..."

"He did have the police officer telling him what to do though..."

_No..._ Takagi thought. _Conan-kun was always one step ahead of my directions. He knew all along what to do. So, why did he have me read him the instructions? Why didn't he just tell me he knew how?_

_Because I wouldn't believe him. Who would? A seven-year-old diffusing a bomb? If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes I would've never believed it either. Did he know that? Did he know if I didn't see it I wouldn't believe? _

_Where is Conan-kun, anyway? Takagi looked around. Cars, busses, people, police officers... _

Conan-kun!

Takagi heard a little girl's voice. He turned quickly, noticing Agasa-hakase's bright yellow Beetle. Ayumi jumped out.

"Conan-kun!" She cried and hugged the boy tightly.

"Conan-kun!" Two boys, Mitsuhiko and Genta, yelled. They were half-relieved because Conan was alive, but also half-angry because, yet again, Conan was hugging Ayumi.

And then a girl, looking no older than the others, emerged from the vehicle. "Edogawa-kun?" She spoke calmly, but with purpose, and the four others turned to her.

"Yeah?" The boy known as "Conan Edogawa" answered.

"Come here for a second."

As the boy started for the girl known as "Ai Haibara," Mitsuhiko called to them: Ah! You're doing it again! You're going to talk about confusing stuff again!"

Just in time Agasa-hakase answered, "Now, now, let's not yell. I know! How about the thing you've all been waiting for: a quiz!"

The three children moaned, but in the end were stumped by his clever question. However, that was the last thing on the other two's minds.

"Kudo-kun, I know you must've done something stupid in from of Takagi-keiji. Spit it out."

"I didn't do anything too bad..."

"Diffusing a bomb?"

"I didn't want to die in there, you know!"

"What if he figured out your identity?!" She whispered harshly.

"It's OK. I-" Just then he remembered. Crap...

"What?" The girl demanded.

Takagi had been quickly making his way to the boy (he wasn't sure what to call him), when he saw the what had happened.

_There's a definite separation between the kids behind Agasa-hakase and the ones answering his quiz,_ he observed. _In more ways then one. Is it possible that the doctor and other girl know something too?_ He slowly walked to the two whispering, trying to be as inconspicuous as possible... Of course, it failed. When he crossed the 50 meter range, the range he could almost hear their conversation, they both turned.

_Crap... _He thought. He searched for an excuse.

"Ahhh, Conan-kun," it felt strange to call the boy when he was questioning his identity,"the, uh, headquarters needs your statement..."

Immediately, both demeanors changed.

"OK!" "Conan" called. Almost unrealistically childlike. He ran to Takagi's side. Takagi caught a silent look from the other child, saying something indecipherable to anyone but the recipient. She then turned, and joined the other children.

"Hey, Takagi-keiji... Don't you need my statement?" A voice beside him forced him back to reality.

"Oh, yeah, uh..."

"You don't need my statement." It was a fact.

Takagi looked into the face of a boy who had the body of a child, and the mind of an adult. "You're right. I don't." They waited in silence. Takagi finally couldn't hold the question in any longer. "Who are you? And, if you're who I think you are, how and-and why?"

The boy looked away, his expression conflicted. "I can't tell you."

"Why?"

The boy known as Conan Edogawa looked right into Takagi's eyes.

"Because I can't put any more people in danger than I already have."


	2. Chapter 2

Takagi watched the boy walk away.

"Takagi-kun!" Miwako Sato called from a distance, running towards him. "Do you know how much paperwork…?" She saw his expression. "What's wrong?"

"Hah? Uh, nothing, nothing's wrong, why would anything be wrong? Ha ha ha…" _I am such a bad liar…_ "Paperwork? Yeah, we'd better head back… because there's a lot of paperwork…" He continued to laugh nervously, walking away.

Sato caught his jacket, paused for a second, then said: "You're hiding something. Did something happen in that elevator?"

"I'm not hiding anything… and I was just here making sure Conan-kun was OK, I mean, must've been traumatic for a seven-year-old to have to defuse a bomb… but, he had my help, of course, I mean, there's no way he did it himself…!" _Nice cover-up, Takagi,_ he thought sarcastically.

Sato looked at Takagi. _For some reason, I don't think I'll get him to tell me… Fine, then! I'll just figure it out myself! _"OK, well, if that's all, let's go back to HQ." Sato said flatly, then turned her back to Takagi and made her way to the police car, biting her lip.

Takagi stood there for a while contemplating the previous conversation. _What just happened? I know I tried to sound natural, but it couldn't have been enough to fool Sato-san… What's she thinking? _

Meanwhile, in Agasa-hakase's yellow Beetle, there was a heated, but quiet, conversation between "Conan Edogawa" and "Ai Haibara" in the backseat. They waited until the other kids had fallen asleep; they were quite tired after the incident.

"You said what!?" Haibara exclaimed quietly.

"Look, I didn't tell him anything, OK?" Conan tried to amend, "I just said I didn't want to put anyone else in danger."

"Now they know it's dangerous, which could prompt an investigation!"

"I doubt they could launch an investigation on the words of one seven-year-old who is probably in shock after having to defuse a bomb by himself."

"You never know, geez. Just lay low for a while, got it? No Apotoxin 4869 antidote for anything. Don't solve anything with the kids around or get on TV like you just did with the bomb. Don't even make a perfect score on a test at school, OK? Miss at least one question on every test; let someone else get the glory for being the smartest, anything! Just be nobody!

"Don't give me that look, I'll be doing the same. Don't even point out too many things with Mouri-san's investigations. Especially if anyone we know well from the police is there."

"You know, that's a lot of rules there, can you give me a list?"

"This is no time for jokes!"

"OK, OK, sorry! Geez, only for a while though, otherwise I don't know if I'll be able to hold myself back any longer. It's already hard in this body, and now I have to hide my mind, too. Ahhhh!" Conan quickly covered his mouth; he had been too loud, and he was worried he might've woken one of the kids.

Haibara and Conan looked around and saw one child shaking. Conan, who was closer, looked over Ayumi and saw Mitsuhiko's eyes wide open, not tired at all. He looked at Conan, then at Haibara, and asked,

"Who are you?"


	3. Chapter 3

Miwako Sato laid on her bed at home after a stressing day at work. First, a bomb threat in an elevator almost killed Takagi-kun and Conan-kun. Then, somehow, Conan-kun disarms the bomb, they get out safely, _and _they catch the criminal. And then, to top off the day, she learns something happened to Takagi-kun in the elevator, but he won't tell her.

_What could've happened? I mean, I know a seven-year-old disabling a bomb is incredible, but Conan-kun's a pretty amazing kid… really amazing… too amazing. Ah! What am I thinking, he's just really smart, that's all! He didn't do it by himself; Takagi-kun was reading directions the whole time. But it is amazing that Conan-kun did it perfectly just with Takagi-kun reading. Doesn't it take a lot of practice to learn the proper techniques for cutting the wires…? Coincidence? Maybe… not. Maybe Conan-kun is someone other than who he says he is… But that doesn't make sense, how could he be someone else, unless some kind of magic is involved… and I KNOW that's impossible._

_Come to think of it, isn't Conan-kun ALWAYS pointing out crucial evidence in our investigations? He just knows what's important and what's not at a crime scene, but that takes years of practice! He's only seven! How could he have years of practice? He's still learning addition for crying out loud! _

_It's really quite funny, because I thought these same things when I used to watch Shinichi Kudou solve a mystery. He just saw everything! And when you think something's unnecessary it's the final piece of crucial evidence that ONLY he finds! Too bad he hasn't been helping us lately… but it's not like we're incapable of solving things! We've solved a lot of cases… and at most of them, Conan-kun was there… pointing out the little things… just like Kudou-kun. _

Sato sat straight up. _Just like Kudou-kun… What the…_

A few hours before, still in the car with Agasa-hakase, Mitsuhiko was speechless. He had heard the whole conversation between his two friends, and he could not explain it. He just stared at the two, and they looked at each other in fear, wondering what to do now.

"Very good you too, fantastic!" Agasa-hakase tried to cover up. He looked to them, eyes saying, "Follow along."

"Oh, uh, thank you, hakase! Man, I was about to forget my lines for a second there at the end but, whew, I remembered!" Conan was the first to respond.

"Yes, be sure to get them next time, else we won't be ready…" Haibara joined in.

"Yeah, OK, I will." Conan said forcefully and sarcastically. _Even in acting, she's picking me apart…_

"S-so you guys were practicing for a play…?" Mitsuhiko nervously looked at Conan and Haibara, then to Agasa-hakase, and back again. "Hahaha! OK! That play looked cool, what's it called, can we be in it too? "'Cause, it's really not fair if only Conan-kun and Haibara-san are in it." _Now I see the truth. For me to believe such a stupid thing, oh, I need to study more! A lot more! _

As Mitsuhiko woke the other kids up saying, "We're going to do a play, Ayumi-chan, Genta-kun!" Conan and Haibara were breathing again. They said silently, _Thank you, Agasa-hakase._

BRING! The phone to Mouri's Detective Agency rang.

"Yes, Mouri's Detective Agency." Ran Mouri answered the phone.

"Sorry for calling so late, but I have to ask you a question."

"Sato-keiji, is that you?"

"Yes, sorry, this is really urgent."

"Urgent? Do you need my father?"

"No! Ran-san, where is Shinichi Kudou-kun?" Ran paused.

"Well, he calls once in a while saying he's working on a hard case…"

"Where?"

"I-I don't know."

"How long has he been working on the case?"

Ran paused again, not wanting to think about it. "About half a year." She started to break down. "I haven't seen him at all! He doesn't come to school, he's not at home, and he doesn't call on a regular basis! I don't know what happened…!"

"Ran-san, calm down. It's OK, it's OK. I'm sorry for asking you this; I didn't know it was hard to talk about. Here's what I want you to do: When I hang up, go straight to your room, and go to sleep, OK? You're probably really tired from today's incident, so just go to bed. I'm hanging up now—''

"Wait! Did something happen to Shinichi? Why are you calling?"

"Listen, Ran-san. It's all theory right now. I don't even know how it happened. Until I have evidence, I'm going to keep it to myself, so don't worry about it. Just know he is safe and out of danger."

"Sato-keiji! Please tell me! I want to help!"

"Ran-san. He is safe. Please be OK with that for now." Click.

Ran slowly hung up the phone, and sank into her father's chair. She heard the door open and footsteps walk in front of the desk. She heard a voice say:

"Ran-neechan, are you OK?"


	4. Chapter 4

Little Conan's eyes were peeking out in front of the desk, filled with a mature worry that should be unknown to him.

Ran opened her eyes. "Conan-kun! Do you know how late it is? You should be in bed!"

"But I heard you yelling down here and got scared…" Conan said innocently, now a habit from his prolonged time as a child. "What happened?" Conan tilted his head.

Ran fought back tears. She wanted to tell him everything, just to get it off her chest. _But I can't worry Conan-kun. _"Oh, nothing." She forced a smile. "Let's go get ready for bed."

"Okay!" Conan grabbed Ran's hand and they walked toward the door. "Ah!" Conan stopped.

"What, Conan-kun?"

"I just remembered! I lost my Detective Badge in here earlier today! I have to find it!" Conan ran to the sink, checking the cabinets. "Nope, no…"

"Why don't you look for it tomorrow?"

Conan got quiet. "Because Ayumi-chan and I were going to talk tonight…" _This is so embarrassing! _Shinichi thought.

"OK, you can look for ten minutes. If you don't find it, go to bed and apologize to Ayumi-chan tomorrow."

"Yay! Thank you, Ran-neechan!"

Ran left the room, and closed the door. Conan listened for footsteps and then a door shut. He waited one minute after he heard the sounds, then went over to the phone. He clicked the call history button for the most recent call. He knew she'd been on the phone because he only heard one half of the conversation. A number showed up. He looked at it for a moment, then he remembered back to when Ran was putting someone's number into her phone. Who was it, again?

Sato-keiji! This is her number! What could she have said to make Ran so distraught?

No… what if…? No, I didn't tell Takagi-keiji enough information for him to even begin explaining it to other people! And why would he tell Sato-keiji if he knows it's dangerous? Also, even if he did, there's no way they would tell Ran. That means that Takagi-keiji didn't tell Sato-keiji anything! Then why would Sato-keiji call Ran?

Because she only figured out the first half.

* * *

**AHHHHH sorry it's so short! I just realllllllllllly wanted to end it there XD**

**Thank you so much for reading! Next chapter will be out soon!**


End file.
